the muslims in the mediterranean

the confrontation and interaction between Muslin and Christian worlds spread throughout the Mediterranean from east to west. In the east, the conflict was essentially between the Islamic states, notably the Umayyads and ’Abbasids in the eighth century and the ’Abbasids and Tulunids in the ninth, on the one hand, and the Byzantines on the other. This conflict was played out on the long land frontier which ran roughly along the southeastern borders of the Anatolian plateau. It was also played out at sea where, by the beginning of the eighth century, the Muslims had shown themselves adept at naval warfare. The city of Constantinople was able to defend itself, but many of the coastlines and islands of the empire were subject to raids, and some islands, notably Crete, were occupied (Map 4). This struggle lies outside the scope of this volume (for further reading see the bibliography for this chapter). In the western half of the Mediterranean, however, the Muslims were able to establish sustainable states on the European shores and it is with these states that this chapter is concerned.

Sicily, with its ancient Greek and Latin legacies, had long been a half-way house between two cultures. While in Gregory the Great’s time, Latin influence, and especially ecclesiastical connections, remained strong, it seems that the seventh and eighth centuries saw the island becoming increasingly Greek in language, administration and religion. The loss of Syria and Egypt to the Muslims appears to have increased the importance of Sicily to Byzantium.